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The Best USB Battery Packs and Power Banks

Updated February 16, 2018

Your guide

Mark Smirniotis

Over the past two years, we’ve considered nearly 300 USB battery packs (also known as power banks) and spent hundreds of hours testing more than 40 of them to find the ones that offer the best value and reliably keep gear charged. The credit-card-sized TravelCard Charger has consistently been our go-to battery to give a smartphone a partial charge to make it through the day. The Jackery Bolt is just a little bigger and provides one to two full smartphone charges, and it has convenient built-in cables. Our larger pick, the Anker PowerCore 20100, can charge your phone every day for a week or keep a fleet of devices going for shorter stints. And for Android devices that are Quick Charge–capable, we found that the medium-size Tronsmart Presto 10000 PBT10 will provide really fast Quick Charge 3.0 speeds at a good price. (If you already have a device with a USB-C port, you’ll get the fastest charging and future-proof tech from dedicated USB-C battery packs instead.)

Our picks

This is still the most reliable credit-card-sized battery, and a staff favorite years after we first recommended it. The TravelCard can give a smartphone like an iPhone 7 or Galaxy S8 about half a full charge, it’s only 5 mm thick, and it has an integrated Lightning or Micro-USB cable.

The integrated Micro-USB and Lightning-connector cables make it convenient to carry every day, for every device. The aluminum body is the size of a bar of soap, and the Bolt has enough power to charge a midsize smartphone twice.

The Anker PowerCore 20100 has enough power to recharge a tablet and two smartphones on a long flight, or a smartphone a day for nearly a week. It’s about the size of two decks of cards lined up end to end.

The Presto is the best one-size-fits-all battery pack if your Android device supports QC 3.0 and you need faster charging. It’s about the size of most midsize smartphones, but it has enough capacity to recharge such a phone about three times.

Why you should trust us

Wirecutter has been researching and testing battery packs for more than four years, and I’ve been working on this particular guide for nearly two of them. I’ve lost track of the absurd number of hours I’ve spent reading about, testing, and using the roughly 300 battery packs I’ve cataloged over the years. On top of that, I’ve covered various other power devices for Wirecutter, and I’ve talked to engineers, safety experts, and the companies behind uninterruptible power supplies, solar chargers, and surge protectors. Oh, and more batteries, too.

When we need a little extra expertise, we call on Lee Johnson, an electrical engineer in Littleton, Colorado. For a previous update to this guide, we even visited with the Vancouver-based battery-analysis specialists at Cadex Electronics to come up with our picks (which we shared with the Good Morning America audience).

What our categories mean

We think the best way to shop for a USB battery pack is to consider three factors:

the device(s) you need to charge

how many times you need to be able to charge your devices while on the go

how much bulk and weight you can tolerate carrying around

Someone who wants a pocketable model to occasionally extend the use of a dying phone has different needs than a business traveler who needs to keep a tablet and phone charged for back-to-back international flights.

With these factors in mind, we have divided power banks into three main categories: the slimmest, pocket-sized batteries; convenient, everyday-carry models; and larger battery packs with more power for longer trips. (Because of price premiums and compatibility issues, we have a separate pick for Quick Charge compatibility, a feature that lets some Android devices charge faster than normally possible with USB.) This approach lets us narrow down the hundreds of batteries for sale to just the most useful designs.

Category

Capabilities

Weight and size

Price range

Pocket

Boost a dying phone to get through the day

Less than 3 ounces, credit card or lipstick tube shape

$30 and up

Everyday carry

Fully charge a smartphone one or two times

Less than 8 ounces, the size of a deck of cards or a bar of soap

$30 to $40

More power

Charge a smartphone every night for a week, or a tablet a couple of times

Up to a pound, the size of a portable hard drive

$40 to $50

Because battery capacity is an essential measurement for this guide, we talk a lot about milliamp-hours (mAh) and milliwatt-hours (mWh), or just watt-hours (Wh). You don’t need to know the nitty-gritty of electrical engineering, just that these units of energy are measurements of capacity, like liters or gallons in a fuel tank. (The figure mAh is the one you’ll see most frequently on a spec sheet, though we don’t think it’s as useful as Wh.)

To give you an idea of the scale of these capacities, though, we put together a list of the battery capacities of some common devices. (If your device isn’t on the list, you can usually find its battery capacity with a quick Google search, or you can just estimate what you’ll need based on a similarly sized device on the list.)

How we picked

Over the course of researching the previous two major updates to this guide, we cataloged 252 different batteries in a ridiculously large spreadsheet; we’re now up to nearly 300 batteries total. Once we find the most promising batteries on paper, we get samples of each and put them through a battery of tests (ha, a battery of tests—this stuff just writes itself!) to find out how fast they charge smartphones and other devices, how quickly they can recharge themselves, and how close their real-world capacities are to what’s advertised on the box. As of this update, we’ve gone hands-on with nearly 50 battery models, from manufacturers large and small.

To whittle down the hundreds of batteries for sale to a manageable few dozen for testing, we dismiss units with obvious flaws—mainly those power banks that charge either your device or themselves more slowly than similarly priced models. For smaller packs meant to be carried every day, we favor models that have built-in cables. Having a built-in Lightning or Micro-USB cable (or even better, both) can make it easier to carry a power bank in your pocket or small bag without having to bring along a tangled-up cord. The combination of integrated cables, plus a standard USB-A port for plugging in longer or specialty cables, is the most flexible arrangement.

That process still leaves us with dozens of models, so we compare those batteries on the basis of a few quick calculations:

capacity for the given price (mAh/$)

weight for the given capacity (ounce/mAh)

volume for the given capacity (cubic inch/mAh)

These calculations can help us find a few outliers, but honestly, batteries are starting to look more and more similar as manufacturers hit the limits of current technologies. Some brands consistently sell reliable batteries at a fair price, while others focus on flashier designs and packaging in order to charge a premium, but underneath, there’s little difference. So we also take into account availability and warranty coverage, since a recommendation from us will do you no good if you can’t purchase the item or if a company won’t replace a battery that fails due to manufacturing defects.

How we tested

Cadex devoted a corner of its lab to test almost 20 models—nearly 60 batteries in all—for us in 2015.

For our most recent update, we tested our top contenders using a combination of USB ammeters and variable resistive loads. Because battery capacity actually depends on discharge speed, we tested every battery at a constant output—specifically, 1 amp. This amount is lower than what most recent devices draw—and this choice may result in slightly higher capacity ratings than you’ll see in the real world—but doing our tests this way gives us apples-to-apples data points. If one pack’s maximum output is 1.5 A and another is 2 A, for example, testing them at the maximum discharge won’t give us a fair comparison of the capacity of the underlying battery cells.

Pull Quote

If you’re trying to estimate your needs, expect to get less from the source battery than its manufacturer claims, and expect your device to use more than its own battery capacity when charging.

Aside from the voltage considerations in battery capacities, it’s also important to note that manufacturers advertise laboratory-perfect capacity numbers. In reality, no battery or charger is perfectly efficient, so we always expect to lose a few percent here and there in testing. If you’re trying to estimate your needs, expect to get less from the source battery than its manufacturer claims, and expect your device to use more than its own battery capacity when charging.

Related to this topic, while most vendors advertise a battery’s capacity in milliamp-hours, or mAh, we also list capacities in watt-hours (Wh). It’s just a simple conversion, but one that makes it easier to compare the capacities of batteries across different types of technology. Because power (in watts) equals amps multiplied by volts (A × V = W), two batteries with the same mAh listing could have different real-world capacities. With so many different battery-based devices, listing watt-hours in our guides makes it easier to directly compare different types of products. If you’re curious to learn more, we’ve posted some details about why you’ll see both watt-hour (Wh) and amp-hour (Ah) numbers in more of our guides going forward.

We use a variety of highly sophisticated doodads and whatsits for battery testing. Photo: Mark Smirniotis

We also test the maximum output, or charging speed, of each port individually. Large phones and tablets draw more power, faster, than smaller devices, and that speed is measured in amps (A). Once upon a time, our MP3 players all charged with 0.5 A from a computer’s USB port, but it would take forever to charge a modern device that way, so speeds have steadily increased to almost 3 A for some devices. But both sides—charger and device—must support faster charging: If your device wants 2.5 A, but your battery can supply only 1 A, the lower limit wins.

In our latest round of tests, using our variable loads and an ammeter, we checked each port by slowly increasing the discharge rate until the battery cried uncle: USB power is supposed to be 5 V with a 5 percent margin, so we considered a port’s maximum output to be the current it could supply without dropping below 4.75 V (or without protection circuits shutting the battery down). Some packs can fast-charge on only one port at a time, throttling back charging on additional devices you connect, so once we knew the individual port maximums, we also tested each device to determine its simultaneous maximum output across all the ports.

(In the smallest category of batteries, we forgave slow charging, because high-amperage circuitry requires more room and sophistication than low-amperage modules. But we otherwise insisted on charging capabilities better than 2 A to keep up with iPads, other tablets, and recent smartphones, and you should, too.)

Finally, we considered the size, shape, features, and build quality of each unit, along with minor elements such as the style and usefulness of the LED gauge or the finish on the plastic. Of course, price is always a factor, but because the street price of these batteries can vary so much—sometimes by $5 to $10 over the span of a few weeks—we didn’t give much weight to small pricing differences.

Our pick for your pocket: TravelCard Charger

The TravelCard has been the most reliable of the credit-card-size batteries we’ve tested, but it’s worth buying only if you absolutely need the small size. Photo: Kyle Fitzgerald

Our picks

This is still the most reliable credit-card-sized battery, and a staff favorite years after we first recommended it. The TravelCard can give a smartphone like an iPhone 7 or Galaxy S8 about half a full charge, it’s only 5 mm thick, and it has an integrated Lightning or Micro-USB cable.

If you need the absolute smallest battery to keep your phone going through the end of the day when you can’t get to an outlet, the TravelCard Charger is the most convenient and reliable option. A little longer and wider than a credit card, and roughly three times as thick, the TravelCard stands out from other small batteries because it has two integrated cables: one with a standard USB-A plug to recharge the battery itself, and one with either a Micro-USB or Lightning-connector plug (depending on which TravelCard version you buy) to charge your device. Because you don’t need to carry any cables, there’s nothing extra to forget, and the TravelCard is always ready to go. It’s light and well-made, with cables that fit securely without jamming or falling out—a real problem with some of the cheapest credit-card-size batteries. Since this model’s announcement in 2014, several Wirecutter staffers have been personally using the TravelCard with positive results.

Though almost as thin as the Travelcard, the Flux charger gets its extra capacity by being longer and wider.

That said, even the best batteries at this size have limitations. To preserve battery longevity and avoid heat buildup, they’re limited to relatively slow input and output charge speeds. The TravelCard is similar to competitors here, discharging and recharging at about 1 amp. The LithiumCard from LinearFlux is the only standout of the small batteries we’ve tested, able to put out up to 2 A, closer to batteries in the larger categories. But the LithiumCard has about 20 percent less capacity than our pick, and since you’ll likely be using your phone while charging it with something this size, faster charging speed isn’t the top priority.

Dollar for dollar, the capacities of packs this small are as unimpressive as the charging speeds. The TravelCard averaged 1,048 mAh (3.8 Wh) in our tests; while that’s enough capacity for it to add 30 to 50 percent of a full charge to most smartphones, it pales in comparison to our top pick in the everyday-use category, which offers five times the capacity for a lower price. Even among credit-card-size batteries, some models eke out a few more mAh than the TravelCard. For example, the Flux Portable Charger provided only about 70 percent of its promised capacity, but that’s still double the capacity of the TravelCard. (That said, the Flux is closer in size to an index card than a credit card, so it’s not as pocketable as the TravelCard and is much less capable than our everyday pick, which is thicker but narrower.) The Incipio offGRID 1500, similar in size and price to the TravelCard, provided a slightly higher capacity as well, but the TravelCard is still the better choice because of its integrated USB cable for charging itself: An extra 100 mAh probably won’t make a huge difference in how you use a battery, but never needing an extra cable is more than just a convenience—it’s a relief.

Our pick for everyday carry: Jackery Bolt

The Bolt is a bit smaller and a little thicker than most smartphones—overall, it’s a good size to carry every day. Photo: MIchael Hession

Our picks

The integrated Micro-USB and Lightning-connector cables make it convenient to carry every day, for every device. The aluminum body is the size of a bar of soap, and the Bolt has enough power to charge a midsize smartphone twice.

If you can make just a little more room in your pocket or bag, the Jackery Bolt packs a lot of value into a battery the size of a bar of soap. The Bolt was the only model we tested that hit every item on our wishlist: fast output, three different ways to charge devices, sturdy materials, and enough capacity to charge most smartphones twice over. Though it’s a few dollars more than many batteries this size, you get more for that extra money.

The Bolt didn’t hold the most energy, but its other features make it more convenient.

The Jackery Bolt (left) has built-in Micro-USB and Lightning cables so you don’t need anything else on the go. The Anker Fusion (right) has a built-in power plug, which means you don’t need a wall charger but you still need to bring cables with you. Photo: Kyle Fitzgerald

Pull Quote

The Jackery Bolt was the only model we tested that hit every item on our wishlist: fast output, three different ways to charge devices, sturdy materials, and enough capacity to charge most phones twice over.

We’re big fans of having an integrated device cable on an everyday battery pack—when running out the door with a pile of batteries to choose from, we’ll take the one with built-in cables every time. But many companies sell one version with a Micro-USB plug and a different version with a Lightning-connector plug, making you choose which one to buy. Even if you get the “right” one, a Lightning-only pack can leave you stuck when you need to charge a device other than an iPhone (say, a camera, e-reader, tablet, or Bluetooth headphones), while a Micro-USB version won’t charge Apple devices. With both cables on the Bolt, you truly have nothing extra to bring along.

The Jackery Bolt is small enough to carry in any bag and fits comfortably in most jacket, sweatshirt, or large pants pockets. Photo: Michael Hession

The Bolt’s maximum combined output is 2.7 A, and it has a standard USB port that can put out all of that at once—it offers the fastest speed of any small pack we tested—so you have the option of using longer or svelter cables if necessary. Cable size matters, and the chunky cables on the Bolt might cause problems if you use tight cases on your devices. If you do, or if you’ll never need a Lightning cable, our runner-up pick might be the right choice for you.

The Bolt has enough capacity to charge small smartphones twice and larger models at least once. In our tests, it averaged 20.06 Wh (3.99 Ah) of discharged capacity at a 1 A rate. The more expensive Goal Zero Flip 30 beat it handily, with 25.55 Wh (5.20 Ah), but in addition to the higher price, the Flip 30 lacks the integrated device cables that make our picks so convenient.

The biggest downside to the Bolt is the thickness of the housing around the connectors. Though nice and sturdy, the connectors are too bulky to work with cases that have a small opening for the charging port. For example, none of the integrated-cable packs we tried would work with the OtterBox Defender case we had on an iPhone 6s. During testing, we also noticed that while the Bolt is itself pocketable, the length and orientation of its charging cables make it difficult to slip in your pocket while charging your phone—the battery’s longer dimension ends up positioned perpendicular to the phone’s.

The EasyAcc is slimmer than our top pick, but you have to choose between an integrated Lightning cable or a Micro-USB cable—you can’t have both. Photo: Michael Hession

Runner-up

Roughly the size and shape of a smartphone, EasyAcc’s power bank has either a built-in Micro-USB cable or, for a few dollars more, a built-in Lightning-connector cable. The Lightning version charges iPhones more slowly than our top pick but is otherwise similar in price and capacity.

The EasyAcc 6000mAh Ultra Slim Power Bank with Built-in Cable was our previous pick in this category, and it’s still a great pack if you need only one type of built-in charging cable instead of the two that the Bolt offers, or if you just want a slimmer profile. This EasyAcc model is the size, shape, and weight of a medium-size smartphone, compared with the Bolt’s more portly figure, which is akin to a small bar of soap. While other companies offer batteries with similar dimensions, the EasyAcc’s built-in charging cable and impressive capacity for the price make it one of the best values in this category.

The EasyAcc is about the size and shape of a midsize smartphone, so if your pocket can hold your phone, it could hold this battery instead. Photo: Michael Hession

The EasyAcc is available with either a built-in Micro-USB cable or—for $5 more—a built-in Lightning-connector cable. The cable on the Micro-USB version maxes out at 2 A charging, but the one on the Lightning-connector version chugs along at only 1 A. Since you can keep your phone plugged in while you use it, slow charging isn’t a dealbreaker for an otherwise handy battery, but it is slow enough that we’d disqualify the Lightning-connector model if it were a cable-less pack. And if you’re using the secondary USB-A port and your own cable for charging, you won’t have a problem charging at higher speeds: Though the port is marked for 2 A, we had no trouble pulling over 2.4 A in our tests. Overall, the EasyAcc is a serious contender for anyone without Apple devices, and even some iPhone owners might be willing to put up with its slower charging speeds if they prefer its thinner, more pocket-friendly design compared with the Jackery Bolt. Still, the Jackery Bolt’s charging options and speed make it a better choice for most people.

Our pick for more power: Anker PowerCore 20100

The PowerCore 20100 can charge two standard USB devices as fast as possible simultaneously, and has the capacity to do so a handful of times. Photo: Kyle FItzgerald

Our picks

The Anker PowerCore 20100 has enough power to recharge a tablet and two smartphones on a long flight, or a smartphone a day for nearly a week. It’s about the size of two decks of cards lined up end to end.

The Anker PowerCore 20100 is the best value for anyone who needs more power than our everyday picks offer and doesn’t need to fit their battery into a pocket or a small bag. With 74 Wh (20,000 mAh) of capacity, this Anker pack can charge your smartphone every day for a weeklong work trip or keep two devices charged for a long weekend away. It’s also a few ounces lighter than our last large pick—the RAVPower 22000—and about 20 percent smaller, yet it still has 90 percent of the capacity of the older, larger pick.

When we tested the output on the PowerCore 20100, we found that it was able to charge two devices at full speed—just over 2.4 A—without any problems. Some power banks, including the smaller Anker PowerCore 13000, can charge at full speed from either of their two ports, but not both. The best batteries, like the PowerCore 20100, can charge on every port at once without slowing down. That makes this model more versatile when you have multiple devices, which is likely if you’re bringing a bigger battery like this on a plane trip or some other long journey.

Bigger packs with three or four ports are available, but they come at a pretty big price premium. Plus, those packs are much bigger and tend to weigh more than a pound. Our pick, at about 12.5 ounces, has plenty of power for most situations but is still small enough and light enough to tote in a day pack if you’re out touring a city.

Pull Quote

The best batteries, like the PowerCore 20100, can charge on every port at once without slowing down.

When it comes time to recharge the battery itself, a big pack like the PowerCore 20100 needs to be left overnight. We found the recharge speed was in line with Anker’s 2 A rating, but that meant it was roughly 10.5 hours before the power bank reported as full and we had measured 97.2 Wh into it. This is pretty standard for large packs, and is a limitation of USB power in general. Newer USB-C batteries can overcome this problem, as can our Quick Charge pick if you have compatible chargers and phones, but those are still niche items for a lot of people. To tackle this limitation, Anker and others have started to experiment with power banks that have two recharging ports meant to be used simultaneously. The Anker PowerCore Elite 20000 and Anker PowerCore 26800 are roughly the price and capacity of our pick but can recharge twice as fast via two Micro-USB inputs. Though the new design is a clever solution, these battery packs won’t save most people that much charging time—not without some caveats, that is.

Anker has built a reputation for quality, and stands behind it. This accessory company is one of the very few to offer phone support during business hours in addition to email support. If you do have any problems, Anker includes an 18-month warranty and even covers return shipping on your item.

Our pick for Quick Charge compatibility: Tronsmart Presto 10000 PBT10

Photo: Kyle Fitzgerald

Our picks

The Presto is the best one-size-fits-all battery pack if your Android device supports QC 3.0 and you need faster charging. It’s about the size of most midsize smartphones, but it has enough capacity to recharge such a phone about three times.

If you’re looking for a power bank capable of charging your Quick Charge 3.0 Android device, the Tronsmart Presto 10000 PBT10 is the best all-around battery pack available. It can charge most smartphones about three times, has an extra port for charging a second device, and recharges itself at the faster QC 3.0 speeds. Though our other picks provide useful extras like integrated charging cables, as well as more value when it comes to capacity per dollar, a Quick Charge 3.0 power bank like the Presto 10000 PBT10 can charge a compatible device from zero to 70 percent in about 30 minutes.

The Presto 10000 PBT10 is smaller and lighter than the first power banks available with Quick Charge 3.0 in 2016, including the larger Anker PowerCore 20000 with Quick Charge 3.0, our previous pick (since replaced by the Anker PowerCore Speed 20000, which has the same dimensions). Anker’s battery is still a good choice if you need the massive capacity, but the Presto 10000 PBT10 is about 65 percent the size and much easier to carry every day—it’s about the size and shape of a midsize smartphone. Anker and Aukey both make packs that are competitive with our pick, but both are shorter and thicker, so it’s harder to slide them into a tight pocket as most people are bound to do at some point with an everyday power bank.

Despite the slim shape of the Presto 10000 PBT10, it offers two charging ports—other models we tested have just one. Only one of the ports is capable of QC 3.0 speeds (easily identified by the green plastic), while the other one charges at the standard USB full speed of 2.4 A. In our tests, both ports could charge devices simultaneously without one limiting the output of the other.

The best Quick Charge power banks also recharge with the faster QC 3.0 standard using traditional Micro-USB cables, and all three of the top packs we tested did just that. We clocked the Tronsmart Presto 10000 PBT10 as recharging at 17 W, compared with the 18 W maximum, when it started from empty. But all the packs we tried were significantly slower when charging from a non-QC power source. The Presto charged at just 7.5 W, though that’s the same as the pack from Anker and faster than the Aukey pack (less than 4 W). If you’re going to use a Quick Charge pack like this, be sure to use a Quick Charge power source or you’ll be waiting a long time. (We don’t currently have picks for Quick Charge 3.0 wall chargers, but iClever and Anker both make compatible versions of our favorite single- and multi-port chargers.)

Tronsmart’s power bank did slightly better than the competition when we tested the available capacity too. Over three discharges, the pack averaged about 35.2 Wh (9,500 mAh), nearly 98 percent of the promised capacity. That’s a big jump from discharge averages in the mid–80 percent range for the competition and represents an extra quarter of a charge for most smartphones. While numbers in the 80s are common and not worth dismissal by themselves, when battery packs like the Presto 10000 PBT10 discharge nearly their whole capacity in testing, we consider it exceptional.

Anker is well-known for excellent customer support, via email or phone. While researching the Tronsmart, we anonymously contacted that company’s email-only support with a problem to test response time. A representative responded five hours later with some troubleshooting tips, plus instructions for how to initiate an exchange if we couldn’t resolve our problem. While phone support is always a plus, Tronsmart’s prompt and detailed email support left us feeling confident in our pick.

Flying with batteries

An important note for anyone taking USB batteries on flights: The FAA allows passengers to bring spare batteries in carry-on bags, but not in checked luggage. (If you need to gate-check a planned carry-on bag, you are legally required to shift any lithium-ion batteries from that bag to your actual carry-on.) There is no limit to the number of batteries you can carry for personal use, so long as each has a capacity of 100 watt-hours or less. All the batteries we reviewed for this guide have capacities that fall beneath the threshold.

The competition

For your pocket

The Flux Portable Charger discharged an average of 9.77 Wh (2.05 Ah) in our tests, which was lower than its advertised 14.4 Wh but still better than the results from our top pick. However, the Flux is larger than our top pick from TravelCard, and that’s a key point for a battery meant to be carried in the smallest of pockets or wallets.

For everyday use

While some batteries have integrated cables, Anker’s PowerCore Fusion has an integrated wall charger. The Fusion is roughly the price and volume of the Jackery Bolt, with only a slightly smaller capacity. Though the Fusion performed as advertised in all our tests, its built-in charger isn’t as compelling for most people as the Jackery’s design. The Fusion’s shape and size—a 3-by-3-inch square about an inch thick—isn’t pocket-friendly, and it lacks the higher capacity of big packs that commonly live in backpacks or luggage. And although every device, every time, needs a cable to charge from a power bank, you need a wall charger only sometimes. With the Fusion, you get the extra bulk of the integrated wall charger, and you still have to carry cables, too.

The Anker PowerCore Slim is as pocketable as a smartphone—that is, perfect for some, and still too big for many—at around a third of an inch thick. But it’s about the same width, and just a hair shorter, than the EasyAcc 6000mAh Ultra Slim Power Bank with Built-in Cable we recommend after the Jackery Bolt. The EasyAcc offers more capacity, the ability to charge two devices at once, and an integrated cable for a lower price than the PowerCore Slim.

Goal Zero’s new Flip 30 Recharger is about the same overall size as our top everyday pick—just closer to a fat deck of cards than a long bar of soap. Its price is around 25 to 30 percent higher than that of our top pick, roughly proportional to the Flip 30’s higher tested capacity of 25.55 Wh (5.2 Ah). But instead of an integrated cable to charge your device, the Flip 30 offers a standard USB port, so you need to remember to bring a cable along. The Flip 30 recharges itself at 2 A through a small USB plug that flips out and can plug into a standard USB-A port. While the flip-out plug is nifty, plugging it into most chargers isn’t easy: The battery tends to block other ports, and it has to balance precariously when you charge it from a wall outlet or charger.

We tried to test Olala’s C2-i Portable Charger, which comes with a Lightning cable, but the Micro-USB power-input port (for charging the battery itself) was poorly aligned with the battery’s shell, and the port broke loose from the housing when we tried to remove the charging cable.

For more power

The Anker PowerCore Elite 20000 and Anker PowerCore 26800 are slightly thicker and heavier versions of the power bank we recommend. For a slightly higher price, the Elite 20000 and the 26800 incorporate a second Micro-USB input port, allowing you to recharge them with two cables simultaneously. But you need a wall charger with two ports—a charger isn’t provided—and if you’re traveling with one of these packs, you must bring two cables, too. However, they have three output ports with a combined maximum output of 6 A that can charge three devices at about 80 percent of full speed. If we needed a three-output battery, and if we didn’t mind the extra bulk, and if we had a dual charger already, we’d certainly consider getting either of these power banks, but that’s too many “ifs” for us to recommend them for most people. Like our current pick for more power, the Anker PowerCore II 20000 has only one input port, but we still prefer our pick because it’s slightly smaller and lighter.

Though the EasyAcc 2G Brilliant 15000mAh Power Bank had solid output in our tests—2.4 A on any of the USB ports, with a combined max of 4.6 A in testing—its recharging was noticeably slower than that of our pick: It never pulled more than 1.4 A, compared with 2 A maximum for the Anker PowerCore 20100. At just 75 percent as fast as our pick, the Brilliant would take a few extra hours to fill up.

We were ready to recommend the Monoprice Select Series 10400mAh Charger with QC 2.0 as a budget pick: Even though it has a lower capacity than any other pack in this size category, its price is so low that it’s an impressive value overall. Combine that value with high-power input charging, one high-power output port, and a QC 2.0 port for compatible devices, and this battery is a good choice for anyone on a budget who needs only two or three phone charges. But this model went on backorder while we were testing, and the alternative models from Monoprice all have drawbacks, such as fewer ports or slow charging, that keep us from recommending them. Though the Select Series 10400mAh wasn’t as fast as our top pick and had only around 65 percent of the available capacity, it typically sells for about half the price of our top pick. If you can find it and can live with its shortcomings, it’s worth considering.

The Aukey PB-N36 offered a unique dual input so that you could charge it with either a Micro-USB or Lightning-connector cable. It offered a handy design that let Apple users carry just a single cable to charge both the pack and their devices. But it still had only two output ports, a dealbreaker for high-capacity batteries such as this.

For Quick Charge 3.0
The Anker PowerCore+ 10050 and Aukey 10500mAh Portable Charger with QC 3.0 both performed well, utilizing full QC 3.0 speeds when charging other devices as well as when we refilled them from a compatible wall charger. But both packs are slightly more expensive and slightly larger than the Tronsmart Presto 10000 PBT10. Further, neither offers the second charging port that makes the Presto convenient as an everyday pack and when you need to power more than one device.

The Aukey 20000mAh Portable Charger with QC 3.0 and Lightning input is another large QC 3.0 pack that isn’t well-suited for everyday duty. Aside from the size, this confusing model tries to do a little of everything by offering both QC 3.0 charging (exclusive to Android devices) and a Lightning input (exclusive to Apple devices). If you are one of the few people who can utilize both features regularly, you’ve found your pack. But the combination isn’t worth the high price for most shoppers.

Previous competition
Though we’ve removed some of our earlier recommendations and dismissals because they’re no longer available, a few older packs are still for sale. The Incipio offGRID 1500mAh tested well but lacks the extra built-in cable of the TravelCard and generally sells for a little more. The LinearFlux Original LithiumCard for Micro-USB and the LithiumCard for Lightning offer great build quality and higher (2 A) charging than most other small chargers provide. However, the LithiumCard’s capacity wasn’t as exceptional as its output—we found in testing that it had only about 4 Wh (0.84 Ah) of available power. The Limefuel L60X was a previous runner-up pick, but it wasn’t consistently available for purchase and it doesn’t offer the convenience or value of our most-recent picks. We were unable to get any combination of the Satechi SX20 Aluminum Portable Energy Station’s ports to put out more than about 2.1 A simultaneously. The few Astro-series batteries that Anker still has available, like the Anker Astro E7 26800mAh, can’t put out quite as much power simultaneously as newer packs. Even though they’re often available for a discount, we wouldn’t recommend them as good options for the long term.

Special thanks to all our friends at Cadex, especially Gary Kwok, applications engineering manager, who spent many hours running tests and interpreting data for us during our 2015 update, and David Oliver, director of product sales and marketing, who helped coordinate the entire project.

On my iPad, at least, the links to the EasyAcc 6000mAh Ultra Slim Power Bank actually end up on an Amazon page for the (take a deep breath!) EasyAcc iChoc 5000mAh External Battery Pack Ultra Slim Power Bank with Built-in Lightning Cable Flashlight Portable Charger for iPhone – Matte Black. And in fact, searching Amazon for a 6000mAh EasyAcc product doesn’t turn one up at all. ???

Mark Smirniotis

Yup, we’re seeing this too. It looks like now when a product goes out of stock but Amazon is just showing the other option on shared listing without showing an “out of stock” page. For now, our EasyAcc pick is unavailable. The Limefuel L60X is our alternate pick if you can’t wait for the EasyAcc 6000 to be restocked. Sorry!

Lawrance

Just bought the RAVPower 3rd Gen for my son for x-mas. Looks like a made a good choice. (This is my second RAVPower purchase.) It appears the 16,000mAh models are the best choice due to how efficient they are, and having almost as much ACTUAL power as the larger, heavier, most costly models.

matt

I’ve been using an MSFT Band 1 for about a year, and have to say i really like it.

The size of it did take a bit of getting used to (and then again when I switched wrists), but once you’re used to it you basically stop feeling it. I’m lucky in that I have pretty big wrists, but I can see how anyone wearing the Small size would feel like it’s a shackle.

I started out caring mostly about step tracking, and so obviously loved the GPS integration and maps that it spit out with split times, and whatever, but now I care much more about exercise tracking. I do crossfit and love the fact that I can tell it I’m exercising, and then after I’m done get a report on how that session was (maintaining, improving, etc) with a heartrate graph.

I also really like having glanceable text/calendar/call notifications right on the inside of my wrist. This makes deciding if it’s worth digging my phone out of my pocket when it vibrates WAY easier.

At this point you can find the V1 for less than $150, and that that point I’d say it’s worth a buy and try. It does take some getting used to and can get in the way of mousing or typing, but it’s not the end of the world. Looking forward to upgrading, but at this point V2 is just too expensive.

Stuart Stegall

Just my opinion, but the weight factor is pretty important for those who travel with the packs and I think a fair amount of people just charge one device. I have the Anker PC 20100 and the RAVpower 26800 and unfortunately kinda similar to your testing I get the same amount time out of both powering my 6S. The only thing is the Anker is 357g and the RAVpower is 601g, a 68% increase for the same runtime.

There’s also the Anker PC+ 26800 which provides about 85% of the rated power (that seems par for the course with Anker.)

Absolutely valid preference, of course! We sorted out partly by weight and size relative to capacity, which is why we recommend the RAVPower as an item for an extended trip—it’s less efficient in a weight ratio, but it has the highest simultaneous output, which we favor for utility. In the competition section, we list three alternatives and why we didn’t ultimately give them a nod.

In our view, if you’re carrying a high-capacity battery, being unable to charge multiple devices at nearly “full speed” at the same time is a big constraint, and one of the better competitors is just too expensive relative to the RAVPower.

KB

The link for the EasyAcc 6000mAh Ultra Slim currently goes to an EasyAcc 5000mAh for $25.99 or a 9000mAh for $22.99. I did find an EasyAcc for $15.99, but it’s an 8000mAh. ?!

Mark Smirniotis

Sorry, now when a product goes out of stock, Amazon is just showing the other option on shared listings. For now, our EasyAcc pick is unavailable. The Limefuel L60X is our alternate pick if you can’t wait for the EasyAcc 6000 to be restocked.

but they only make a lightning and micro usb option.. and I need a USB-C option 🙁

Mark Smirniotis

Hmm, I haven’t seen a USB-C option that fits your requirements. There are some fully integrated chargers like the Phonesuit Journey, but you pay a really big premium in order to not carry a separate charger. We couldn’t find a good enough deal to test. Hopefully in 2016 we’ll be seeing more of the high power USB-C options!

kspace

Your link to the $4 AmazonBasics 2000mAh unit takes me to a page with a 5600 $19.99 power bank, with 10000 and 16100 mAh options. Has the 2000 mAh version been discontinued?

Amazon has a new behavior where if a product is out of stock, but there are variants on it (even if they’re substantially different), the link drops you on that variants page. As far as we know, it’s just out of stock.

Adam

I just purchased the RavPower 20100, and I agree that it is heavy and large. It is the only powerbank that I could find though with both a usb-c port and a 3 Amp output (which my new Nexus 5x uses for maximum charging rate). This maybe worth considering and mentioning.

Looks good, except that the product description says ” . . . up to 2.4A per port.” Granted is says 5V/3A elsewhere, but it’s anyone’s guess which is accurate. Also, I think you meant 6 Amps, not watts.

Ralph Young

Ah, yes. Thanks for catching that. There’s a lot of confusion surrounding this product because the 20100 was reissued with a usb-c and renamed a “plus.” The 6a output is shared across the three ports. The input remains 5v 2.4a.

All good input! Between USB-C and QC 2.0/3.0, a lot of the top manufacturers are transitioning their lineups right now. I’m hoping there’s some real competition in the new year and they shake out the old stuff in the next few months so we can make picks to cover the newer connections in the next update.

Ralph Young

My Moto X is a Quick Charge phone, as are most flagship Android phones made in the past year, I’ve been investigating and they really do make a difference.

The Anker PowerCore+ 10050 is ultra-compact and sucks power in at 15 watts. The Talentcell even reports the battery temperature which is useful because it refills at a blistering 18 watts. For comparison a typical bank refills between 5 & 10 watts.

Huge batteries take forever to refill and QC banks are 50-200% faster than non-QC competitors.

Quick Charge is an evolving issue we’re tracking. Right now, we didn’t find an advantage with any packs that offered it as a feature, including the 10500, which has a single USB port for charging other devices and other characteristics that put it below our picks. Several of the batteries we picked can recharge their internal cells at 2 A, and all except the AmazonBasics “top up” pick have at least one 2 A or 2.4 A USB charging port for devices.

doug_jensen

His point was that QC’s speed advantage is due in large part to starting the charge at 12V and gradually reducing it–not just to the current being 2 or 2.4A. You don’t think twice the charging speed of a QC phone or tablet is an advantage?

Have to have an apples-to-apples comparison: In our review of products out there in which we winnowed down to the best set that works for most people, it didn’t prove to be an advantage on the charging side. That can always change, but we balance cost, form factor, weight, and discharge rate to attached devices; on the charging side 2 A or greater at 5 V is relatively quick.

graymoment

Who are “most people”? There is no greater requirement to me than being able to take advantage of charging my phone 75% faster and not having to sit and wait to be” mobile” again.

john doe

Consider efficiency loss going from 3.6v to 5v.

How much will it be at 9v or worse still 12V. That is what quick charge banks entail. Now you understand that any quick charge bank is more for niche use cases. Able to charge faster than you can discharge. It’s only USP.

Cannot ever compete with a non quick charge bank. Must set expectations lower than regular banks, which are general purpose ie for ‘most’ people.

That why you will never see a fast charger in these comparisons.

Ralph Young

Glenn, I testing the 10050+ myself and the results are coming up short. I measured 8247 mAH going in and 6366 mAH on discharge. Neither is close to 10050. Charge time was 7 hours 20min @ 5V and 4 hours 1min @ 9V. How does this compare to your measurements?

We didn’t test the 10050 because it didn’t meet our basic specifications (see my note above and our general notes about what we wanted in each category). We note in our testing, you have to be sure to convert to like units. The batteries are typically 3.6 V. If you test mAh over USB, you get mAh @ 5 V, not 3.6 V. The manufacturers are specifying native mAh in that native 3.6 V voltage.

Cadex also tested uniformly at a 1 A draw, which is a good baseline for smartphones. If you test at other amperages, you can wind up with better or worse results, as batteries will discharge more or less efficiently at different amperages. The same with charging. Higher-amperage charging has to be throttled more carefully as cells get closer to full to avoid damage than lower-amperage charging. It’s another variable we’ll continue to look at.

The “for your bag” category of around 15000 mAh (@ 3.6 V) tested in a range of 92% to 98% for us relative to the manufacturers’ stated battery cell specifications. I’d expect unless they’re using less-efficient cells in the 10050, you should be getting in that range. Our concern with the Anker 6700 is that they upped the mAh but are using less-efficient cells than the older 6400 unit, which results in a poorer overall real-world performance.

Ralph Young

So by your criteria 10000 is an awkward size; too heavy for everyday and lacking the capacity of a bag pack.

I would just be recapitulating what Mark wrote in the article, but we had a lot of discussion about purpose for packs, the feedback we got from readers, how reviews stack up. We evaluated a lot of batteries, and categories shook out naturally: in the 10000 mAh range, batteries were either too undefeated (a single port, say) or too expensive relative to a higher-capacity model or too heavy relative to a slightly lower-capacity one.

Ralph Young

Ok, thanks Glenn for the additional detail about converting to 3.6 V. Applying some quick math I multiplied my 6366 * 5V and divided by 3.6V yielding 8842 mAH, almost exactly 150% of the available capacity of your two everyday packs. That’s a 14% loss and in alignment with your measurements.

So this takes us back to my original thread. What are the charge times for your everyday and bag picks? I think that’s important and not answered by “2 A or greater at 5 V is relatively quick.” Expressing charge time in ampere only works if current, voltage, and capacity are constant. Instead each charging circuit will throttle differently during saturation, and second, some housing will retain more heat thus prolonging charge. I suspect there are notable differences within each battery class.

Yes, these numbers often work out to neat multiples, because through teardowns and manufacturer specifications, nearly every maker (or maybe even every maker) are using rechargeable lithium-ion batteries manufacturers by other parties. So you’ll always have multiple of, say, 3,300 mAh or 3,450 mAh and so forth.

We didn’t test battery charge times extensively, although we’ve done more in the past. It’s an interesting element to add in here. We’re making the assumption throughout, as we describe, that people will have periods of time away from an outlet, so we don’t look at deeply into cycling as we do into discharging.

Given that we didn’t find batteries that support QC 2 & 3 that met our requirements for either recharging or discharging, all the batteries we tested are pulling 5 V over USB using an adapter, at rates from about 1 A all the way to 2.4 A. So the comparison of charging is relatively linear across that. (We didn’t see any issues in charging batteries for testing that we felt worth reporting on, either.)

Now that USB-C equipped batteries are hitting the market, that’s going to change the equation, along with QC-equipped batteries. Two USB-C units I have right next to me can discharge 3 A over USB-C (the Anker unit can do 6 A simultaneously across three USB ports in fact), but still only charge at a max of 2.4 A.

We look at these guides as a snapshot of what’s the most important thing to most people, often by category, and we’re in a state of constant alert, too. We like new models to be on the market at least for a little while so we can check reviews and get units that aren’t first off the production line. It’s clear we’ll be revisiting this in the not too distant future again, because there is so much flux in the market, and the QC/USB-C issue.

graymoment

Have you counted the number of times Qualcomm Quick charge technology has been brought up by commenters in this thread? 83% of mobile phone users around the globe choose Android over iOS, and just about every flagship Android phone these days supports the technology.

Any charger that does not include this technology is precluded from consideration from someone who has tasted this technology. It’s like making a best smart phone list recommending 3G phones when 4G LTE service is available and a requirement for the majority of readers. Yes, it’s THAT much of a difference.

About a billion iPhones/iPads/iPod touches have been sold to date (approx. 700 to 800 million in use), and something like a billion Android mobile devices, at least, which lack Quick Charge capability. The flagship phones that include it are a subset of all sales, but growing fast. As many millions of phones that are purchased by people who also have disposable cash (since they’re buying a high-end phone) continue to hit the market monthly, we’ll see battery makers more eager to adopt it.

I just received a RavPower unit that has QC support — they released it a few months ago, but it was in and out of stock. It also has USB-C support for 3A recharging of the pack.

We can only test what’s on the market and meets the quality, capacity, and other parameters we discuss in the article. As more QC-equipped batteries ship, we’ll surely find some that fit the mark. It’s possible we’ll add a QC-specific pick, too.

fatbob42

Can you add some details on whether these packs have features like sequential or parallel charging and auto-on and auto-off? Also, do they charge themselves via microusb/USB-C or proprietary charger?

We looked at passthrough charging as an issue, and after talking with experts, dismissed it as a factor to consider. It doesn’t produce a better outcome; we recommend a multiport wall charger for that purpose.

USB-C is just now starting to appear in a small handful of USB battery packs for charging internal cells and charging external devices. It may allow faster recharging, as well as providing enough power to recharge small laptops, like the Apple 12-inch MacBook and ChromeBook Pixel. We’ll be keeping our eye on them for future testing.

Micro-USB is more or less the standard for recharging internal cells at this writing.

John Kutzschebauch

So do none of these support passthrough charging? I ask because many times I have had to bring my own power strips while traveling due to lack of available outlets. Being able to “dock” the battery at the hotel until needed and just charge phone/tablet through battery even while docked would be intriguing. Add in some hotels powersaving features where if there is no activity they disable some lights/outlets and it can be an adventure to have stuff charge as expected.

Konstantin Konev

What about Xiaomi’s products? They’re good and are low priced.

Mark Smirniotis

The price is certainly enticing, but Xiaomi isn’t as widely available for US shipping and 10,000mAh packs are a bit of an oddball size right now. In most cases, you can save a few dollars by getting a smaller pack that’s easier to carry all the time, or you can spend a few dollars more to get 50% more power and faster output that’s better for more uses. When we update next time, we’ll take another look.

Victor

How many of them has UL-Certified ? You didn’t test Asus Zenpower which has UL-Certified as I suggested last time. Or do you think UL-Certified is not important for battery packs ?

We looked into this, and UL doesn’t have a certification process for packs. The internal battery cells are purchased almost exclusively from third parties, like LG and Panasonic. Also, USB battery packs almost never ship with an AC-to-DC adapter, which are UL certified, but they avoid this requirement by not manufacturing or including a third-party unit. We’re discussing internally how to think about the safety aspect of lithium-ion batteries across all categories we review, however.

Victor Ksl

If UL doesn’t have certification for packs then looks like Asus Zenpower misleading us right ? They got UL for the cells, but they claimed UL for the packs.

We just spoke recently to a contact at the UL, and asked in general about this. I checked the particulars in this case, and while there is a battery pack filing that dates to 2012, it doesn’t match the name, part name, or descriptive of the Zenpower. It has a UL mark on it (I found a photo of the seals), but it’s unclear what that means. We’ll see if we can get more detail. A lack of UL certification on USB battery packs at this point shouldn’t be a negative.

Victor Ksl

Thanks..I really appreciated if you could investigate it. But I thought there are UL1642 Compliant Lithium Cell Type(s) and UL 2054 Compliant Battery Pack(s).

A few months ago I asked in Asus official forum to give me the link of the UL certificate because I couldn’t found in the UL database and a moderator replied with fake UL info….terrible….

Mark Smirniotis

This is really interesting, thanks for the tip! Since that video does conflict with what we were told in research for another guide, we looked into this yet again today. UL does have a certification for external, consumer battery packs, but the last sentence of the “General” section specifically excludes USB battery packs like we’re covering here.

They have a bunch that I may have missed. But seems like all their other offerings seem pretty good as well.

Mark Smirniotis

Some of the other ones do look promising, but we didn’t test them and don’t know if they use the same internal cells. The one we picked stood out for it’s combination of features. We’ll keep on eye on their lineup for the next update.

Salmon Hair

I’ll just start out with what my intentions are. I want to be able to use a RavPower 15 watt solar power charger to charge a battery pack that can then charge my iphone in an emergency.

The RAVPower 26800mAh Xtreme Portable Charger says it does not come with a charging cable.

1) What would I need to be able to charge the portable charger off the solar charger?

2)What would I need to be able to charge the portable charger off a wall outlet?

Mark Smirniotis

I have both here, but unfortunately I don’t have the full packaging. I thought the battery pack did come with a USB to Micro-USB cable. That type of cable is all you need – the USB end goes into the port on the solar charger and the Micro-USB end goes into the input on the battery. If you wanted to charge off the wall, you’ll just plug the USB side into a computer’s USB port or a USB wall charger (the one included with your iPhone is fine).

Depending on your weather, it may take a couple days to charge a pack that big. You’ll get a big improvement in power generation if you rotate the solar charger every few hours to keep it facing the sun.

USB Type-C equipped batteries are just coming to market. Anker shipped its awaited one in early November, too late for our testing process. Other companies appear to have shipped similar models—but on checking, they have marketing pages up, but haven’t yet even manufactured units. Months ago for some. We’ll be looking at those as they come available.

The Ravpower looks like it just started shipping. A couple of weeks ago, I was surveying the field, and found four USB-C equipped packs, but only the Anker and TalentCell were shipping. Ravpower showed as available, but you couldn’t order it. A fourth looks like it’s in production, and the company told me it’s months away. We like to review products after people have had some real-world experience with production runs alongside our testing.

Interesting. I was unable to find it available two weeks or for weeks before that, and I contacted the company about getting more information (they never replied).

doug_jensen

You mentioned QC2 and 3 in passing at the end–too bad you didn’t include some of them. You refer to fast charging in terms of current, but that easily confuses your readers because QC2 and 3 do very fast charging by starting with 12V and gradually lowering it as the load battery charges–assuming that you are charging a QC2 or 3 compatible device, which includes the Samsung Galaxy S4, and some Amazon tablets (i mention these because they are what I have and the QC2 works really fast).

In our review of products on the market, it wasn’t a distinguishing factor yet. We’re always looking for what works best in a variety of common circumstances and with common devices. We’ll keep watching it, and a standout QC 2 or 3 equipped battery might shine enough in terms of speed of recharging and discharging, while also meeting a reasonable price, weight, and quality that it rises in our picks. We’re constantly watching the market.

Eric Rini

I use a SB6141 and it needs to be restarted about once a week or latency goes up 2-3x. This is not a high quality device, it’s the bare minimum.

You should contact whomever you purchased it from & request a new one. I’ve had mine plugged in for a long while now (months) with no issues. Pretty much the entire Wirecutter staff relies on this & I’ve not heard anything like this in 2015.

Tyler Humphreys

Any recommendations with Quick Charge support?

droppedD

any thoughts on the 3,000 mAh version of the slim AmazonBasics pack? From the numbers it looks like it’s only marginally thicker/heavier than the 2,000 mAh version, but packs 50% more juice.

Mark Smirniotis

It’s just a little big to compare to the other credit card batteries, so we tested it against the others in https://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-usb-battery-packs/#bestoverall . It did pretty well. About a full charge on most phones. Ultimately, the cheaper and smaller 2000 or the EasyAcc for a couple bucks more both seemed like better picks. But the 3000 has dropped from $13 to $10 to just $6 as of this post, so definitely an worthwhile option for some people.

Bermannyc

How would the EasyAcc UltraSlim fare charging a Ipad Mini 2? I basically want it to charge my phone and occasionally the Ipad.

Mark Smirniotis

The iPad Mini 2 was bigger than the iPad Mini 4 we cite in the chart above. Your batter is a 6400mAh battery and the EasyAcc had 5500mAh available on average. You’ll lose about because of charging profiles etc. So you wouldn’t get a full iPad charge, but it would certainly help!

Walter

I know this may be a bit tough to test, logistically speaking, but self-discharge could also be a factor to consider. It wouldn’t do much good if a fully charged pack, left aside for a month, has only half the capacity left because the circuitry drained the battery, would it?

Mark Smirniotis

Self-discharge is certainly something to consider, and I’m working on a guide to rechargeable AA batteries where it’s an important topic because the underlying chemistry is much different. The types of cells in USB packs, though, only self discharge around 3% per month (or more in extreme temperatures). For the most part, it’s not a big issue. If we become suspicious of where cells came from, or if we have bad luck in long term testing, we’ll definitely take a closer look. Otherwise, a healthy battery should be fine unattended for awhile.

I’m more talking about self-discharge of the pack due to the circuitry sipping current while not in use, not really about the cell themselves since they aren’t using NiMH.

Mark Smirniotis

Hmmm, tricky, I see your point. I haven’t seen such bad experiences that I’d expect it to be too big a factor. But now I’m curious. I’ll see if I can get a good test on the docket for the next update. Thanks for the feedback!

Walter

I have seen reviews here before about those unbranded battery boxes that might have such issues: http://lygte-info.dk/review/Review%20USB%20battery%20box%204×18650%20Aili%20UK.html
I’m pretty sure it shouldn’t be too much of a concern in better-designed circuits. I’m guessing it’s rather unlikely but just wondering if there could potentially be such hidden issue with any of the packs here as well. I’m thinking about use cases where the pack is left in a bag for a few months, and upon emergency use, there is very little charge left. It may or may not be worth a test, I guess it’s your call, just pointing out more things for you to consider haha.

Aren Anderton

With the anker powercore 15600 at $23 like it is right now, 2 of those could easily beat any of the luggage category batteries. Combined specs would be something like ~28500 mah real capacity (vs 19100 on the RAVPower), 9.6a output on 4 usb ports, 4 amp charging rate, and $46 cost. Tape them together if you want to think of them as 1 battery, it still beats their pick (the RAVPower) in every category, by significant margins. Except weight (24 vs 21 ounces)

Victor Ksl

Thanks…..I really appreciated it…

Wilfredo

Hello Glenn, I’m going for a long travel on my motorcycle and I am going to be using my laptop a lot. My main concern was if this battery would be good for my laptop or if it could “fry it” (an amazon user warned me about this), because of the different voltages? What would you recommend me? My intention was to combine an external battery with the solar ravpower, like you recommended in another article.

I think you’re asking about the RavPower 23000 (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HFMUBYG), which we didn’t review, as it comes with a variety of laptop adapters, and is designed to produce a range of voltages. The reviews on Amazon are good, but we haven’t tested it so we can’t provide an expert recommendation. I’d be more inclined to recommend a branded or well-reviewed third-party second battery for your model as being a better use of money and time.

David Smith

LOL,appreciated to your really pretty professional and detailed practical tips about the best USB battery packs.I also found a pretty practical article from blog.onu-mall.com similar to your blog and i also surprised by the huge collections of various USB cable and battery packs,i bought a really fashionable solar battery pack for my iPhone 5S

Max Jacobs

for me Fluxchargers.com have the best chargers out there, I love the design and portability of their flux card.

Max Jacobs

they also support iphone and android with a built-in cord

JonSmeeth

Great comparison article. Perhaps someone could open up the powerbanks to see the internals and what the types of 18650s and capacities are parallel-connected, and can prove to be useful if the stock batteries can be replaced with even higher-capacity (*****fire) ones as technological advances pack higher power densities.

Great article, thanks. I have the Aukey 3600mAh PB-N30 which I love because I don’t need to carry around an additional micro-USB cable. It charges via Lightning. Under $15 from Amazon. My perfect external battery would be a bit larger, say 5000 mAh or so, and have an LCD showing the current charge status.

That’s an iPhone-specific battery pack, which we’re unlikely to recommend. Thanks though glad you found something you love!

JonSmeeth

I just received my Ravpower extreme 26800mAh power bank. Totally discharged it and charged using the Portapow measurement revealed the amount of charge the pack received was 21600+ mAh, which is inline with the measurements.

Many of these products (and those in other categories) are not available on Amazon.ca and many of them don’t ship to Canada from Amazon.com. It’s very frustrating. Even the AmazonBasics charger is not listed here. It would be great if someone started Wirecutter.ca. 🙂

You’re already friendly! 🙂 I do understand the problems with expanding coverage outwards but thanks for replying.

Noor

I would much rather prefer Amazon.ca becoming more like Amazon.com rather than Wirecutter starting Wirecutter.ca. It’s ridiculous how the Canadian Amazon is a. simply not good and b. unreasonably expensive for some products.

I wanted to get Wirecutter’s budget soundbar pick and it was actually cheaper for me to get it shipped from America instead of getting it from Amazon.ca. It’s really frustrating indeed!

Amazon is not the only place one can shop at. I do agree that Amazon.ca is lagging behind. But since you were able to get the product from Amazon anyway I don’t really see a problem. 🙂

Noor

No, that’s the thing. I did NOT get the product from Amazon.ca, I had to get it shipped from the US.

And also you say Amazon is not the only place to shop at. While I do think Amazon is the undisputed go-to online marketplace, I’d confess that I’m pretty new to Canada and don’t know many online shopping portals here so if you have any suggestions, please do let me know. Thanks! 🙂

Max Jacobs

I am surprised the Flux Card from fluxchargers.com didn’t make the list. It is a relatively new product but damn that charger is really thin. I got one for christmas and I love it!

KMD

Limefuel is a terrible company that does not honor warranties.
Don’t buy their trash because it breaks and then you have an exploding brick.

Strange. They’ve consistently been reliable in one form or another for the last 2-3 years for us. Thank you for the feedback though.

KMD

I’m glad they’re working out for you.
Unfortunately, that wasn’t my instance.
Good luck out there Tony.

Tommy Lionelli

Any favorites for the packs that hold a charge for the longest? I use/charge my packs so infrequently that the most important criteria is which can go the longest holding a charge so when I’m in a jam – the pack can come through. Thanks!

That’s a great question, and something we hope to test generically. It will be hard to test for specific models, because by the time we’ve looked into multi-week or multi-month testing, it’s possible the model in question will have been replaced. We saw this even in assembling units for testing over a short period of time. Modern lithium-ion batteries in general seem to be able to hold onto a charge over a fairly long period of time, in our informal examination. Over weeks, if not months, we expect you’ll still have 70 to 80 percent of the charge it was left at. Some battery makers advise not leaving batteries at 100-percent charge in storage, which is something we’ll look int in the future, too.

The best plan, as you have the ability, is to charge full or nearly full, and leave yourself a calendar reminder to plug it in before a trip.

Anecdotally, I found an Anker battery from a few years ago I hadn’t touched in that time (a time when I wasn’t traveling much), and it was still at 75-percent charge. This is well above what we expect on average, but was still fascinating to see.

This zendure desktop charger is really a good invention. it saves my time.http://www.amazon.com/Zendure-A-Series-High-Speed-Desktop-Consoles/dp/B018JRSURK The desktop/wall charger is very small, powerful and durable. It comes with power connectors for the US, UK and Europe, so it’s great for travel. It is also compatible with a typical two-prong AC power cable, so it’s great for the desktop or conference table as well.

Scott

Do any of these batteries support load sharing (ability to power the output device with input power while charging the battery if needed)? This could be useful for a number of scenarios, but in particular it would make for a nice little UPS for low power applications on the cheap and easy as well as use the battery pack as a charger system you can take with you without having to unplug the device being charged.

We considered this as part of our early criteria and talked about it again once we had our final picks. As note in the article, there’s no consumer-level pack of this type that we tested that emphasizes that kind of charge-and-pass-through approach, so we more highly recommend that you bring a multi-port USB charger. We have a guide on those! This lets you have the best of both worlds: When you have access to AC power, you can leave your batteries at rest or charge them, and power your other devices directly from AC.

As a UPS, we don’t see this being practical, as almost any commonly used device you’d plug into a battery pack will have its own internal battery, rather than being directly powered. There are certainly some direct USB powered applications, but we believe that most people are looking for recharging phones, tablets, and other portable battery-powered devices over USB.

Scott

Haha. Cheers for the astonishingly quick reply, Glenn. 🙂 I don’t disagree (and don’t mean to suggest adding it as a critical feature), but I am starting to see more battery-less devices that are being powered via USB connections to gain access to slim/cheap/efficient USB charging circuits in applications around or less than 10W. Some of the best examples would be many of the security cameras out there including Nest/Dropcam’s. Other examples include the SmartThings hub (v1 at least) and at least a few of their sensors. The Harmony hub is USB powered as well. I’m sure I’m missing quite a few examples as they’re not clearly advertised in most cases.

It’s a different use case, because of the form factor, charging issues, etc. We’re looking into UPSes for a future guide to see where they can fill the gap. Many devices come with small lithium-ion batteries, too. The last three VoIP connections I’ve had (from Comcast, AT&T cell [Home], and CenturyLink) have had a 3 to 4 hour rated internal battery.

There are UPSes that now target running a few devices (modem, switch, base station, TV tuner, etc.) all in the same place for tens of minutes to hours.

But because things like home monitoring systems can be spread across a house, you’d need a bunch of USB packs in any case. I suspect that in a scenario in which it makes sense, some devices will incorporate batteries as a feature for this reason, or you’ll be looking into a whole home temporary battery backup, a la some of the units that Tesla proposes to pair with solar storage.

In fact solar with local battery is a perfect solution!

Opi

I have a need to use a USB solar panel to charge AA and AAA batteries but I’ve not been able to find a good “solar” AA battery charger that gives me the same capabilities I’m used to with a standard USB AA charger. A USB UPS or a passthrough USB power bank sounds like it would let me use my normal USB AA charger with a USB solar panel if I put one of those in between the charger and panel. The issue is that the AA charger might miss the termination of the AA battery if a cloud moves in front of the solar panel during the wrong time of the charge cycle. With passthrough or a UPS if the sun shine dimmed for a time, the power bank would hopefully supply the power needed to complete the charge cycle of the AA cells letting the charger work without interruption.

marine66-70

Except a dashcam. I need to power a dashcam (0.4mA) for up to 10 hours in my car. The requirement is essentially a UPS. I don’t want to be cable switching every time I get in my car. It needs to be automatic. Lots of people want to record what’s going on around their cars when they’re not around. An example of unarticulated, unmet need? Lots of people that make stuff have no idea of what’s really needed. And conversely, people in need have no idea of what’s possible.

Interesting use case! We’re finishing up our update to a dash cam guide right now, and the issue of using a dash cam without draining a car battery (including the 2nd battery found in some higher-end cars) while the ignition is off is something we considered.

Our guides tend to focus on what we believe most people want, and we survey readers to make sure we’re on track, too, but edge cases are always fun to talk about. The dash cams ones we recommend and prefer in the upcoming guide all have a USB plug instead of a 12 V adapter hardwired plug, so they would work fine with high-capacity USB battery packs.

The Energizer UE2601 and UE5202 have pass-through. This is an essential feature to keep my GPS vehicle tracker running while the ignition is off, without having to mess about with concealed wiring every journey. But also for travelling when I can charge phone and power pack from a single laptop USB port, without having to lug multiple chargers and foreign mains adapters about.

MikeyD

Unfortunately, having just tested the UE2601 it still doesn’t do what I need for the GPS tracker case. When the external power is removed, the power bank does not continue to supply the tracker; you need to physically remove and replace the USB output connector at the power-bank to wake it up again. Unplugging and re-connecting at the gadget-end does not work, so I presume there is some kind of physical “wake up” switch on the power-bank’s output USB connector.

It works fine for the laptop scenario I mentioned, though if the external power is removed during the charging process, the phone will not continue to charge from the power-bank unless you remove and replace the USB plug into the power bank.

Nice article!! I need a battery charger.It’s very terrible to choose one from many.My cousin recommend me to buy Zendure Wall Charger.I bought A-Series 4-port charger.It is really an amazing product.It can charge four devices at the same time and small in size and light weighted.http://www.zendure.com/products/zdaz4p

Yohanes Niko

How xiaomi power bank stack up against those? Did you ever consider to test it?

Did you consider the Limefuel LP200X for a weekend travel battery pack? If so, where did the Anker come out ahead? I like that the LP200X features a digital display of remaining power, also features intelligent charge, and at $20 is more affordable.

Max Jacobs

the Flux Card from fluxchargers.com is dope too, it is also really affordable!

I’m surprised to see that you are recommending devices with built-in cables. In my experience, the charging cable changes so frequently that I wouldn’t want any pack that had a built-in cable (because I would need to carry multiple packs). Right now I carry devices that use USB-C, Micro-USB, and Lightning. I’m sure the Micro-USB devices will fade over the next couple years, but for at least the next couple we will be in transition for USB.

That’s a very reasonable point to raise. As we note in the review, we’re recommending these integral cables only for a single category: the smallest pocketable units. Due to the low cost, compact size, and intent, we find integral cables (especially for both charging and recharging) fit that task well. For every other category of pack we recommend, we don’t find integral cables add any value—flexibility is key.

Something on the order of 700 million or more Lightning-equipped device remain in active use, and likely a couple billion support Micro-USB. So even as new standards rise (USB-C, notably; you’ve already got a device with one and so do I), the utility of the most compact batteries for devices with those connections won’t disappear even as you upgrade.

We’ve been watching battery packs equipped with USB-C ports hit the market, and are eager for there to be enough reason to test them thoroughly.

Patrick Kenny

Besides limiting your options based on the adapter, what happens if the built-in cable breaks or becomes frayed? I’ve had cheap cables wear out within a year, and it’s awful to have to trash a battery just because something has happened to the built-in cable.

Hopefully in future reviews you can evaluate the reliability/long-term durability of such cables as well.

Adisly

I’m another person who was incredibly surprised to find that you were recommending packs with builtin cables. The potential for a broken cable connector – those things are delicate! – ruining the whole battery pack is pretty significant. I’d much rather carry cables that pack down tightly and are cheap to replace than have to carry both a battery pack and an outlet charger+cable in case the battery pack cable breaks.

Aside from that, I and many people I know carry cables already. We need them to connect devices to computers. These would mostly be carried anyway. There’s really no space saving to be had with an integrated cable.

Let me know, cuz they seem like pretty great choices! And thanks for the very fast, Saturday night response!

Mark Smirniotis

Hey Noah, the Monoprice models that came out in June of last year were mostly dismissed because the ports are a bit underpowered. The single port models are listed as 1 A and the two ports are listed as 1 A/2 A. That’s a pretty slow setup, but by today’s standards, but it might be passable for you at the price.

I checked some details with Monoprice about newer models, and they got told me the latest ones were released just before Christmas, two of which have higher speeds and USB-C or Quick Charge chips. We’ll put those on the list for a closer look while we decide how to address the variations.

I think maybe it was only through Valentines Day? But I don’t see a promo box either.

Andrew Pafitis

I’d like to nominate the Tylt Energi 5K+ for inclusion in this review. A little on the pricier side and maybe a bit thicker than it should be, but I use this all the time. The killer feature is that it includes BOTH lightning AND micro-usb cables, which is huge for me when I need to charge either my iPhone or my bluetooth headphones. Also, the size and shape is exactly that of an iPhone 6, so they sit comfortably stacked together while charging in my pocket.

Very informative and helpful assessments of USB battery packs! Not sure if you have updated recently but when I attended CES this year, I came across a really great new battery pack called Reeljuice (Lynktech) and wondered if you have seen it yet? I have been using Reeljuice for about 2 months now and it is definitely the best charger I have ever owned. I have an iPhone 5 and take it with me pretty much everywhere I go, so charging it multiple times a day is quite commonplace. Reeljuice’s claim to fame (which I have never seen before in any other portable battery) is a built in charging cable that is 4 feet long and completely retractable. Plus it has dual micro-USB/lightning connectors which I find useful because I use the micro-usb to charge a portable speaker. I purchased the 5X version (8000 mAh) and it completely charges my phone very quickly (usually 1 hour). It is lightweight and roughly the size of an iphone 6, so I carry it around in my pocket or keep it in my backpack. It also comes with a detachable USB charging module for recharging plus it has pass-thru charging which I think is an important feature. I have been using this charger literally every day and the charging cord has been very durable through normal wear and tear save for minor fraying near the connector but hasn’t impacted its performance in any way. Just fyi, charging Reeljuice through my laptop has proven to take longer than charging with a wall charger (as expected) so I want the rapid wall charger which they sell. I would definitely recommend Reeljuice to people looking for a portable all-in-one solution –it’s now my go to, must have charger.

Ashetails

Anyone else having trouble with the lightening cable model of the Travelcard Charger after the latest iOS update on iPhone6?
I get
“This cable or accessory is not certified and may not work reliably with this iPhone”
when plugged in

the last couple of months. Sent two emails to the manufacturer, but have heard nothing back. Frustrating as I thought it was great but it’s headed for the bin

We’ve heard back from Travelcard! Keep an eye out for an email from them/us soon!

Ashetails

Any further word?

Neal Lindsay

People have asked about pass-through charging, but I’m actually looking for a battery pack with pass-through data.

I’m trying to use a USB mic with an iPad. This works for low-power USB mics. Mics that draw more than the iPad wants to supply will also work as long as you put a powered USB hub in between the iPad and the mic. As far as I can tell, battery-powered USB hubs are not a thing.

Is a USB battery with pass-through data a thing? Have you ever seen such a feature in all your testing?

Mark Smirniotis

I’m having trouble visualizing what you need, so I’m not totally sure if this is what you want, but the JUMP cable is close to what you’re describing. http://www.nativeunion.com/jump-cable/ It’s pretty pricey for an 800mAh battery and I’ve never tested a Native Union product.

And you’re right, the USB Y cable will probably work for me and be much cheaper, so I’m going to try that first.

Lauren Allen

Have you guys heard of/tested the Flux Card from fluxchargers.com? I purchased one last year and it’s been working great for me so I was wondering why they weren’t included on the list

Mxx

Is there any relationship between stated/observed capacity and battery pack’s weight?

Without having access to a proper measuring equipment, can I tell that if some pack claims to have xx capacity but its weight is much less than comparable packs of the same capacity that the manufacturer is lying?

Surprised not to see more info in the review on pass-through charging. Ideally, you’d plug your main power source into the battery pack, and then plug that into your mobile. It should charge the mobile FIRST, at the highest rate possible, and then top off the battery pack. That way, with one charger, you can leave them connected overnight and both will be full, and if you need the phone in a hurry, it should have charged first.
Seems like the Zendure products are the only ones that will charge themselves, AND charge your device simultaneously.

Solar Panels

The range of Voltaic Systems products support pass though charging. But they do not allow picking a priority device to charge.

Some of the NiteCore solutions do support priority switching when charging.

Berimon

Amazon seems to have discontinued the “AmazonBasics Portable Power Bank with Micro USB Cable 2,000 mAh”, as your links now redirect to the product page for ”

As an FYI, I don’t know how you are checking lithium batteries in your luggage. It is a big no-no due to fire danger. You are allowed to carry on chargers only. And without a fuss, stay below 100 watt hours. China security, in particular, meticulously reads the specs on the external case of a charger and since I’ve lost one (because they could not read the specs), I have opted for a device that clearly states its specs.

Martin

I’ve been using the Limefuel LP150X for my travel purposes charging two
devices at one thanks to pass-thru-charging while the battery itself is also charged overnight but I’ve found the bulk + the tug of the USB cable when you’re using the phone and charging with the battery simultaneously put a strain on the port itself rendering the only 2.1Amp port loose just past the 1 year warranty.

Finding a more rugged large battery pack would certainly be the solution (I’ve been considering the PowerAll PBJS12000AE Water Resistant Portable Lithium Jump Starter) but I’m inclined to think that wear and tear will be inevitable for such heavy devices and form isn’t what’s in my priority when I’m on the go.

I’m probably gonna transition into small battery packs (6000mAh) with pass through charging and perhaps an Anker multi port charger for when my wife and I need to charge our tablets and phones in the hotel. The problem is that we can never tell when or where we will need more battery power… stuck in an airplane without USB, airport with everyone already charging, etc.. but at that point I may just get one of thse eton crank chargers…

galan

Why on earth do you need a battery with the gimmicky pass thru charging feature? Lithium batteries aren’t meant to be discharged and charged at the same time, and even if they were, what’s the advantage of having a portable battery if you’ve got the near the wall outlet anyway?? I’d completely ludicrous.

Martin

simple use case scenario:
1. use battery pack because you run out of power on your phone
2. come back to hotel and a) charge both phone and battery pack using 2 outlets and 2 usb adapters or b) charge phone and battery using a multi port USB adapter on a single outlet or c) charge phone and battery with pass thru on a single outlet and usb adapter (usually the oem).
3. i wake up next morning and look at that! both phone and battery are charged and didn’t even have to remind myself to switch over after one was full because i only brought a single usb adapter.

my completely ludicrous way of using pass thru ensures i pack light on my trips and charge both phone and battery without compromise. essentially i can achieve a) and b) without the added cost by carefully choosing a “gimmicky” battery pack.

and btw the Limefuel Blast L60X (with pass thru) used to be a recommendation on wirecutter.

Solar Panels

Some possible use cases :
(1) Inexpensive UPS
(2) Reducing the weight while traveling but offering charging flexibility. Basically ditching the standard charger for your laptop and using a battery bank with pass though charging.
(3) Need to charge during the day while charging battery bank via solar?

JW

Another possibility: I’m building a portable Rasperry Pi device. Requires 5v 2A. And I’d rather not have to power it down to charge it. There are ways to do it, involving hobby-style LiPo batteries and building or buying a charging circuit. But the most cost-effective power solution would be a USB battery.

Make sense?

bobkoure

Pass-through gets you, essentially, a UPS for whatever USB device you are powering. Line power fails, but you’re still up. Useful for remote sensors, and, of course, the RasPi.
It’s also useful if you’re off-grid, but have a large fold-out solar panel (I do this to charge Nikon batteries when I’m on the trail.)
It’s not a matter of batteries charging and discharging at the same time – batteries don’t run at 5VDC anyway, so you’ve got a voltage stepper in there, so any pass-through is in the circuitry.

I need an external battery pack to keep a monitoring device on and running for 24+ hrs without me having to touch it. I tried an Anker PowerCore+ Mini (A1104) for this purpose, but it didn’t work because you have to push the power button on it to get it to start charging. Anyone out there know which models would automatically start charging the device, or that would be “always-on” like my A/C adapter is?

galan

The Anker Powercore 10000 works as soon as a device is plugged in. No on/off button.

I’m surprised by this recent update. Last time Anker completely dominated the Cable and battery listings, now they’re being usurped. I feel like this started after they discontinued the 2nd Gen Astro 6400mAh. I really liked the color selection of that line, but they ran out and went with just white and black with the next gen.

Kelly2544

In my opinion, simple is best. I got 2 external battery packs: 6000mAh (142*57*8.5mm) and 9000mAh (142*57*11.5mm), metal casing with simple and compact design. And the most important is it is with smart IC, it is fast charging. The size is also suitable to hold in hand, put into your pocket.

This article would strongly benefit from info regarding what is allowed by airport security.

Silvos77

Most of these devices should be allowed by airport security for carry on. You can check exact regulations on the TSA website. In fact, when in doubt it is far safer to hand carry/carry on batteries than put them in checked luggage, as some forms of batteries are not allowed in checked luggage but are perfectly allowed in carry on (for safety reasons).

Eric Moore

Trevor, what world are you living in that you think airport security precludes any of these devices? I travel domestically and internationally and I’ve never had a powerbank confiscated or even scrutinized. They’re always carried on, not put in checked luggage.

Jools

Have you found any packs that have an “always on” mode rather than stopping and starting automatically based on current draw? None of the packs I’ve tested will charge our favorite personal devices like smartwatches, fitness trackers, bluetooth headsets, headphones, or cameras because none of them draw enough current to keep the pack from turning off. It’s incredibly frustrating.

Sometimes you can fool the pack into staying on by charging a higher-draw device on another port at the same time, but I’ve even found some packs that sense current independently per port. They fail to charge my headphones even when my phone’s charging on another port.

And more than once, I’ve woken up to a low phone battery because it
charged fully from the USB pack, the pack switched off, and then the
phone drained for the rest of the night.

This and charge-through are the primary features I want from a USB pack.

lizstuart

I have a large capacity backup that I carry in my computer bag because I use it to power my smartphone when I’m using it as a hotspot for my computer.

What I need now is a something more along the lines of the TravelCard, but that unit is painfully low capacity.

I’m looking for a unit with built-in micro USB so I can use it with my Android smartphone. What I’ve seen is that there are units which are still almost credit-card size with capacities in the 2000 to 4000 mAh range. For example:

Many of these batteries charge via Micro USB, and I’d rather not have the additional type of cable in my life. Can anyone recommend one of the following?
– Batteries that are charged themselves via a Lightning cable
– Batteries with integrated USB charging cables larger than the TravelCard
– Batteries with integrated wall plugs other than the Fluxmob bolt
Thanks!

Some Aukey units allow for lightning cable charging, but I do not believe they have any of the other features you listed.

fritchya

I’m a hiker and weight is the only issue I care about. I’m looking for the lightest and highest capacity battery I can find. I have an anker 20,000 but its over kill. the most I’ll be out is 5 days and I need something to power a phone and camera. Maybe around 6-10k what is the lightest and biggest capacity?

May I suggest an article about the best UPS battery backup units (and/or replacement batteries) for surge and power protection for computers, stereos, etc. Seems like the price tag is suitable for a review, and there are definitely good and bad performers in my experience – the cheaper brands fail quickly and are just a waste. I’m about to buy another APC after one I’ve had for 8-10 years failed, and wondering if I should buy replacement batteries instead for a fraction of the cost, or if that’ll be a dumb move that exposes me to fire risks and so on 🙂

Tyler Humphreys

Frankly I wouldn’t buy a battery pack without Quick Charge (or USB type-C if your phone supports it) as it is important for both charging the phone and charging the battery pack itself. These battery packs can be so big it can take all day to charge it, and you generally don’t want to be tethered to the pack for several hours while your phone charges, so a quick 15-30 min topoff is really nice to have.

WARNING. I ordered the lightning version of the travel card on 5/4/16. I had to contact them several times requesting info on not recieving my order and they keep telling me to wait two to three weeks each time. Still no ship date. I’m afraid I was apart of a preorder or kickstarter project. They say the product isn’t ready.

Dustin Davis

I have had the same experience.
Ordered on 6/2/16 and just yesterday I contacted them for an update. Same response that blames the delay on MFi certification.

They need to make it clear on their website that this is a pre-order. Also, I doubt they are giving us the complete story.

ihack13

I have to decide between the Anker 5000 mah and the much praised (amazon reviews) PowerAdd slim 2 . Sadly thewirecutter hasnt tested the poweradd 🙁 Hope you guys can add that one .

Martin Uher

Many thanks for great guide. Was wondering if you consider Tronsmart Presto as a contender for your next round of updates?

Jim

I think so, Tronsmart Presto is a very fast charging power bank.

David Adams

RAVPower has a new model that has 20,100mAh, and QuickCharge 3.0 out now, that I would recommend for the Luggage Category.

Looks like the 16,100mAh Amazon charger isn’t available anymore. It’s redirecting to a page selling the 10,000 and 5600 versions.

matthewmagellan

Just noticed this myself. It still shows up as a related product on some searches but all links redirect to the 10,000 & 5600mAh versions, as you said.

Per Pallesen

Most powerbanks are intelligent, they stop charging when device is fully charged. I
need the powerbank to works as an extra battery (for a GPS tracker) is that possible?
What should I look for when buying a powerbank for that purpose?

Matt

It is a bit ridiculous that these aren’t quick charge. It’s like recommending a hard disk over an SSD.

Previously we weren’t including QC battery packs amongst our picks because there were relatively few QC compatible devices available. However, that’s starting to change, so we have now have a quick charge recommendation in our updates box. We like the Anker PowerCore 20000.

Matt

Quick charge has been on every flagship phone since 2013…

Except iphones, so I guess that is why you guys were ignoring it.

Michie DeBerry

It appears that Amazon has discontinued the 16000 mAh battery pack. Do we have another recommendation to take it’s place?

David

its*

Eric Moore

They recommended the Ravpower 16750. It’s a good unit. I own it as well. Check the Ravpower webpage for any possible discount codes. They list them every few weeks.

tatere

What I need is something that I can charge up and then keep in my bag as a just-in-case backup. The problem is that when I do need them, the battery packs I’ve tried all turn out to be dead. They seem to lose charge without ever being used, just the passage of time. Does that sound right? Are some packs better than others on this score? That would be very helpful information if so.

Cowboy Buddha

I really like this review, but am a bit worried about the Easyacc. Good reviews, but there’s almost no information about the company (looks like it’s from China? or about warranty information. I’ve had an Anker before and had some warranty issues, and even though it’s not great (it’s been discontinued) I at least got some support when I discovered some major issues. With Easyacc, looks like I’ll be SOL. Hmm.

Dr. Danny Abaldo

Ok I am a tad freaked out why?
I bought 2 anker power cores a gen 2 etc. battery packs. I have an anker 21 watt solar panel, it will not charge the batter banks. I must know what way, solar to be off grid , how do you charge any of these power banks? 21 watt not real rate I emailed anker 10 times no help.

If the power goes down for an extended time as we keep reading it will, or off grid and need a USB power device how do we charge the batteries by solar, I want to get a true solar home set up, but no funds yet. Will it only work with say a 100 watt panel invert er, battery, controller set up, what fold-able solar panel will charge a battery pack, been looking for an answer over 1 year and have yet to find this information.
I have power banks and a couple solar panels not for field use all home size matters not pice does. So 21 watt anker solar, 2100 power bank anker- Example, and no way on earth to charge, I live in the Mojave desert, so sun is no problem LOL.

Also I read, if the batter back is depleted 100% it takes a AC outlet to kick it back or it is no longer usable, if 100% drained.

Think, EQ California, no power for weeks, nothing, Prepper minded man. I am in need of this information, anyone know anything about this?
NOTE as my set up now is, or a second solar fordable panel or what? HELP.

Mark Smirniotis

Hey Dr. Danny Abaldo,
If I read this correctly, you’re trying to charge an Anker PowerCore battery pack from a 21W Anker solar charger. I’ve done exactly this, only a few hours drive from where you are with similar weather conditions, and haven’t had an issue even with a battery that is completely drained. Even if the solar charger only outputs around 5V/2A/10W with varying conditions, that should be more than enough to charge most USB battery packs. A big panel, inverter, and battery bank really shouldn’t be required.

If the solar charger won’t charge either of your batteries (and won’t directly charge a phone either), I’d probably try again with a different cable just to make sure the cable itself isn’t to blame. Assuming you’ve already done that, it sounds like the solar charger is defective. Anker has traditionally been pretty good about honoring warranties within 18 months of purchase, and the process is in Q3 at https://www.anker.com/support/warranty

I got halfway though the review wondering why there hadn’t been a mention of Quick Charge yet. So, I did a search to see what the review had to say about it. There were no results until I hit the comments.

I’ve got to be honest, for a review performed in July, 2016, lack of any discussion or consideration around Quick Charge either shows an incredible iPhone bias or a concerning lack of thoroughness.

Personally, I wouldn’t buy a batter pack today that didn’t support at least Quick Charge 2.0 unless I needed something as cheap as possible, or I was looking for something small enough that it was hard to support it. Looks like I’ll be ignoring this review and going with Amazon reviews.

prerejection

Have the Select Series from Monoprice been evaluated and dismissed already? I often find them advertised on their website to have more capacity for less. Their 8000mAh costs less than the EasyAcc recommended here. I’m actually wondering if it’s just because of the often out of stock products they have rather than the inherent quality of the battery pack itself. I’d love to know if they even compare to the main picks here.

Mark Smirniotis

I tested the Monoprice Select Series 10000 and we did indeed dismiss that one in the guide.

A lot of their battery packs are really good value for the capacity, but they tend to fall short on either charge (which has improved on most of their models recently) or discharge speed. The 8000 model you mention has a 1 A port and a 2A port. The EasyAcc pick can do 2 A on the cable (and the cable itself adds some value), and about 2.6 A from the port. It may seem like a small difference, but it’s generally worth a few extra bucks for a lot of people.

If it weren’t for availability issues, that 10000 model (I think the product ID is 15122) probably would have gotten a mention as some sort of runner-up because it might be a good value to some people that are willing to sacrifice the speed. Hope that helps you make the decision!

Waynn Lue

Do you have any advice for a battery pack that supports Nexus 6P’s quick charge functionality (not the Qualcomm Quick Charge)?

Paul Mitty

Best external battery
for complete mobility. The designers behind Omnicharge call it the
world’s first ‘smart’ power bank. It has clever power management
features that allow you to charge up to three devices at once – with two
USB ports and one AC port – even while the power bank itself is charging.

They look a bit stiff; I fear it would be difficult to stack under a phone for charging in a pocket or purse.

Mark Smirniotis

They are a little stiff. In fact, there’s a short note in the guide that makes me think it might not work how you’re thinking about using it:
“During testing, we also noticed that while the Bolt is itself pocketable, the length and orientation of its charging cables make it difficult to slip in your pocket while charging your phone—the battery’s longer dimension ends up positioned perpendicular to the phone’s.”

I know I gave you all a hard time about your briefcases article, but may I just say I owe today’s afternoon spent Pokemoning to your guide, including two Anker PowerCore batteries (3K and 10K) as per your battery guide at the time I was buying. They charged quickly and performed great generally; literally one of my friends with a lame backup battery kept his Galaxy S7 alive with the juice left over in my 10K, which was was earlier refreshing the batteries on my iPad Pro. I’m seriously considering picking up the larger Anker you all recommend in this article. Anyway, thanks.

Guilherme Salles

Which headphone did you tested on Dell u2715h?

Michael

Iv’e tested the Anker PowerCore 20100 with a Cadex C7450ER and the results were a lot different than what Anker claims it to be.
The actual capacity of the battery is 9800mAh.

Mail Flacco

Why is it that there is no model called “the bolt” on the Jackery website?

Eric Moore

Are people that ADHD that they can’t remember to bring cables with them on their way out the door? I’m not a fan of the integrated cables myself, but it’s personal preference. They’re usually too short to be of use for anything but table charging.

The best small, portable charger I have is the Ravpower 6700mah. Ravpower gives you a mesh case with most of their products, so keeping stuff together is easy. It’s easily the best battery on the market in the 5000mah-7000mah range. It’s cheaper and has far more up-to-date features than anything from Anker, EasyAcc, Jackery and everyone else.

On the large battery front – I have 2 Anker 20100 batteries, and the Ravpower 16750 and 22000mah units. I like the Anker 20100 better than the Ravpower 16750, mainly because of its shape (I prefer long and slender to boxy), but also because I dislike the ribbon led display on the Ravpower unit. The dot lighting system Anker uses is better. The Ravpower 22000mah unit is fabulous. Nothing bad to say about this battery at all.

If I’m out on a weekend trip or longer, I don’t ever rely on 1 battery. I usually bring at least 2. I’ve never needed more than 2 ports on any of my units regardless.

Efe

Can you compare RavPower 6700 with Jackery Bar please? They have only £1 differerence and look the same. Thanks

Eric Moore

There is no comparison. The Ravpower unit has more capacity –
6700mah to 6000mah. The Ravpower unit has higher output – 2.4v to 2.1v offered by Jackery. The Ravpower 6700 is 4.8oz whereas the Jackery Bar is 5.4oz. The Ravpower 6700 comes with a mesh case. The Jackery Bar does not come with a case. The Jackery Bar has a power button you have to turn on manually before charging will begin. The Ravpower 6700 detects a device upon plugin and begins charging automatically. There’s no power button to turn on or off. The Jackery Bar comes with a small led flashlight, the Ravpower 6700 does not.

Alexander Vander

What about the new model from anker PowerCore+ 26800 & PowerPort+ 1..? Is a good option for Nvidia shield k1, samsung s7, note 4 edge and note pro 2014? Or just the pick

Will Rosecrans

Looking forward to the USB-C update. My pile of gizmos is slowly migrating that way and having something more pocketable than my large-ish Anker battery to keep my phone going all day with the same plug as the phone would be handy.

Mail Flacco

As a follow up to my previous question, The Bolt is NOT listed on the Jackery.com website. There is the Bar (6000 mAh ) and the Pop (5200 mph ) which seem similar, don’t mention integrated cables, but are much lighter – 5.4 oz. Amazon lists the weight of the Bolt as 10.4 oz! I am going to carry this for 3 weeks backpacking so weight is the major consideration. Could you verify the weight? Thanks.

Eric Moore

6.2 ounces. It’s listed on Amazon.

Mail Flacco

That’s bizarre. On the Amazon web page, under product information, I see Item Weight 10.4 ounces

Eric Moore

That includes the packaging. Why don’t you take a few minutes of time to do a simple search of that thread, and you’ll see where Jackery addresses for this issue directly.

Mail Flacco

I went back and read the page for the third! time and finally found the weight you mentioned. Thanks.
In the meantime, I had written to Jackery directly asking if the 10.4 oz weight for the device was correct. They answered that it was. just sayin…

Denise

Has anyone heard of Mobile Qubes?

I’ve been using it for about two days and was just doing some research to decide whether I buy it or not (at first you rent it). It’s not that great as it charges an Iphone 6 maybe 115%. But it’s definitely very practical. It fits anywhere, it doesn’t need a cable when charging the phone… The Bolt doesn’t seem to fit in a pocket/purse stacked under the phone, for example.

hermescommenter

What would be the best USB-C pocket charger?

Kendall Levison

Any recommendations for a changer in the everyday category that doesn’t have integrated cables? I’d like to be keep the charger in my bag and use a longer cord to connect it my phone.

I bought the Anker powercore about I think it was 4 months ago and its not holding up as much power compared to when I first bought it. Maybe these other brands might be better I will have to give them a try. However, ill suggest the Powergo ss 5000 from tech get go. Its not put on the list here. I have owned this product for about 5 months now and I must say its my new must have portable charger. Its recharges so much more faster then the previous power banks I owned. It recharges itself so quick that I can feel its like 15 times faster charge speeds then any other portable chargers I have owned including my new Qualcomm Q.C. 3.0 portable charger I also bought from amazon to give it a try. the power bank pretty much finished charging itself in like under 15 minutes. When I use it to recharge my iPhone it recharges not as fast but I can tell it charges much faster then my wall charger. I would have to recommend the powergo ss 5000 to anyone who wants a really quick charging power bank.

Mike Newman

I’d like to buy a power bank to use as a UPS for my IP camera. So ideally it would support some kind of pass-thru if it’s receiving AC power. I read that Jackery power banks do this, but you also need to press its power button to start charging the connected device if AC power is lost. Bummer. Anyone know of a power bank that would fit the bill?

Eric Moore

Mike, out of curiosity, why does it matter if you have to turn the power bank on, if, after doing so it’s able to provide days worth of charge to something as trivial as an IP camera? Regardless, what size power bank are you in the market for? > or < 10,000mah?

The Ravpower 6700 and the Ace Series 22000mah batteries both support all the features you've requested. The Ace Series is probably overkill for what you want though.

Mike Newman

If the power goes out while I’m away from home, I want the power bank to seamlessly take over and power the camera so I don’t lose any coverage. Even if I was home I might forget to run over there and press the power button.

Asri Zainal

is your modem, router connected to a UPS? otherwise this is quite pointless unless for uninterrupted recordings.

Mike Newman

My camera has an SD card. I do want it for uninterrupted recording.

Phil

Eric, I want to power a Raspberry Pi3 across power loss of a few hours. The USB battery pack I currently have does not provide output power while it is using input power to charge itself – i.e. no input through to output functionality. I too am after something that is effectively an inline USB UPS system, which would be left in place permanently. It needs to seamlessly provide output power as the input comes and goes.
I don;t see where the Ravpower specs even talk about this. How do I know that the Ravpower series do this?

Eric Moore

You need to look for a bank that supports pass through/thru charging. As I said before – the Ace Series 22,000mah from Ravpower supports this feature. That’s what you need. 22,000mah is overkill, but It will power a Raspberry PI system.

sdorn

According to the FAQ on the Ravpower site the output power cuts off when input power is applied. You have to manually push the button to turn it back on, which means it won’t work for Phil’s application.

I am looking for the same thing as Phil to power an Amazon Dot in my car when the 12v power supply cuts off. I want the Dot on all the time, but the 12v power supply is switched.

Eric Moore

It’s not true. I own this, and many other powerbanks from Ravpower and none of them need to be switched on. They begin charging the moment they’re connected to a device. Even this powerbank did need to be switched on it’s 22k mah. That would charge something like you’re describing for days on end.

Just to be absolutely certain, have you tested the exact scenario of connecting input power into the power bank while charging, and NOT pressing the power button?

I’ve got a lot of ravpower banks and they do automatically start charging when you connect a device to the output, however, I’ve never tried it while I’ve got anything connected to the input. (or any other pass through charging scenario)

Eric Moore

I’ve tested it the EXACT way you and sdorn, and Mike Newman and Phil have described and it works. As a matter of fact, I’ve got it connected to my phone right now at the same time as the input is connected to the wall socket and there are no problems. Both the input and output are working, independent of me having to turn anything on.

freediverx

Why no mention of products from Mophie? I suspect they have been left out because the writers felt they didn’t offer a compelling value for their higher price. But given their popularity, build quality, and design, it would have been nice to know what if anything they offer over their cheaper competitors.

AspidistraBird

The Jackery Bolt has one major drawback. The charging cable is a regular USB on the end that connects to the Bolt and a micro USB on the end that connects to a charger or charging port. An Apple charger won’t work. Neither of my two laptops have a micro USB out port. This is the silliest design flaw I’ve ever seen, at least for an iDevice use case. Back it goes to Amazon.

The Bolt is also much heavier than my 4 year old Mophie Juicepack powerstation. I would really like to see the newest Mophie batteries included in this testing.

For when should we expect your picks for USB-C battery packs ? I’m actually planning to get one soon.

paul_krupa

I have seen very little regarding the durability of the connectors. USB ports fail when subjected to lateral forces as seen when carrying the battery pack in your bag connected to the phone or device. Invariably, all of the battery packs in my house have failed due to this reason.
I am searching for a battery with a robust barrel connector for charging the pack. This may be less convenient than the micro usb connector but reliability trumps convenience. I would rather it work every time I plug it in than only when I can massage the connector to work.
Making the connectors replaceable could alleviate this problem.

Albin

The article has some good pointers, but from my recent experience of purchasing two chargers I’d say it misses out on evaluation of “secondary” functionality:

After having an Autoclub guy show up to charge my car battery with a tiny unit instead of a truck mount, I searched and found these little guys are common in the $60-$100 range and my new one includes a strong LED flash and pulse light as well the car jumper and of course jacks for mobile devices – maybe you all can review those, some time – but I’d say anybody looking at the brick-sized units here should consider if an emergency car jumper could be worthwhile.

I also got a small cylindrical pocket charger for a backpack, but almost immediately realized that the indicator lighting could be better but mainly that some other small chargers come with LED flash units as well as two full phone charges for the same money. After a cottage visit this summer I realized how handy and bright LED flashlights can be.

I would not bother with a single-function “charge only” unit of any size now.

Syze00

I have one of those car jumper batteries and while they jump cars quite effectively, but they take forever to charge other devices. Its strange how that works out. I’m still glad I have it though. It has saved my butt at least 5 times since I don’t know how to turn my lights off:)

Syze00

What battery can withstand high temp environments? Like Nevada, New Mexico or Texas? Do any of these batteries hold up better with that regards?

Great site and tons of data. But as an avid backpacker, I would LOVE to see a table comparing the weights of these. Further, something that gave a weight to capacity ratio would be awesome and I’m sure you already have the data! For example, Anker has a battery pack that is 10,000mah claimed, and about 6.5oz. (https://www.anker.com/products/A1263011)

This seems to be the best power to weight ratio (and probably size). Is this something you could add?

I own a Nexus 5X, which charges via USB-C. What’s the difference between the Jackery Titan S and your Quick Charge pick? Will quick-charging still work with my Nexus 5X, or am I losing out on speed?

DoctorRabbitfoot

Quick Charge (“QC”) is not compatible with the nexus 5x. Charging standards can be confusing. QC is Qualcomm’s method of charging a battery at different voltages to achieve a faster charging speed.

However, USB-C rapid charging is compatible with your 5X – over a USB C to C cable. Stick with the USB-C battery pick(s) and you’ll be good to go as long as you use a C-C cable. That will get you the same rapid charging the OEM charger does.

franckhertz

So, integrated cables seem convenient but what happens when they snap off? or the lightning tip breaks off as happens to all kinds of lightning cables? AH, sorry, I see it has most of these have at least one regular USB port. STill I’d wonder about the durability of the tiny integrated cables.

Thanks for doing this review. Some questions – will the Jackery Titan be able to charge my ipad mini? If not, what would you recommend? And can I use any of these picks to charge the lithium battery in my Panasonic Lumix ZS100? It takes around 3 hours to do so at home. Not looking to charge on the road, it would be done overnight in the room. Appreciate your help.

ISeeTanamon

Really happy you called out Ankers cables. They majorly suck that come in the box. Their out of the box ones (selling just cables) are far superior. Really upset the cables in box aren’t as good, more flimsy, and easily break.

I just got the Jackery Bolt. A few things I think the review doesn’t mention.

– It supports pass-through charging: it can charge devices while it is being charged itself. Not sure when or why that would be important, but there it is.
– It made a high, thin whistling noise when first charged. I shook it and the sound went away. Go figure.
– The plastic end plates on either end of the charger are just a hair too large, and have slightly sharp edges. Those things make it not quite pleasant to handle. Apple, or even Anker, would not sell such a design.

But otherwise, I am happy. The built-in cables are clever, and I am confident it will work as it is supposed to. The bulky plug ends were not a problem.

Thanks for the feedback on this. Those are all great notes. I’ll be sure to pass them on to the reviewer.

Davis Moell

Great article, but as a backpacker where every ounce matters, weight would be a top priority for me! Would love to see overall weight as well as a Wh/oz to show the best bang for buck! Is this possible!

Marcel

I have the same need. I’m trying to find something with moderate Wh (2 iphone 6+ recharges), as light as possible (including an AC-USB brick), and the battery back itself can recharge as fast as possible (I might only have an hour or 2 here and there to top off the battery pack). The rate of discharge is nowhere near as important, nor are integrated cables or even price.

Evan N. R. Smith

did you guys do some digging on light weight options?

JLP

Any insight about best battery for your solar charger? My old, behemoth Mophie had lots of trouble taking in the fluctuating power (neither it nor my cell phone charged reliably), but husband’s anker Astro E4 was fine in a range of light levels.

Andy Bates

This may need to be an entirely new articles, but do you have any suggestions about which battery pack would be best for charging the Nintendo Switch? I’m hearing reports that some battery packs don’t have enough power to charge at more than a trickle, but ideally I’d love the ability to charge on a long flight or something. Thanks!

poorplayer

Does anyone have any experience with MAXOAK portable chargers? The MAXOAK K2 appears capable of charging laptops that run at 5A or less. It appears to be an alternative to getting something like a ChargeTech PPO or an Anker Powerhouse or similar portable AC unit. Simply charge your laptop battery with this and work with battery power. $136 on Amazon. http://www.maxoak.net/laptop-power-bank/show/11.html

podsnap

It seems possible that TravelCard has gone out of business. I placed an order back in early February. They charged my credit card but immediately sent a mail to the effect that they were out of stock and expected to be shipping by late February. Nothing arrived, and mail to them bounces back.
You may wish to note this issue in your review.

Celty

The “capacity per dollar” chart seems to be incorrect. The Jackery Titan S is noted as having 65.2 Wh, and it apparently costs $46, so this would be 1.42 Wh/$, not 14.2 Wh/$ (the decimal is in the wrong place). I assume the other rows have a similar error.

Matt Kiernan

i have a lenovo yoga 910 with a usb-c port. what external batter charger can i buy?

Terry Troyer

I use the RAVPower 20100 power bank. I’ve been using it for over a year and love it.

I would love to see a list of products you actually test. You mention 250 charges in this article, for example, and I wonder, how did mine do. was it in the list at all? What score did it get compared to others, or why was it discarded.

Hmm, I don’t care about size or weight. I just want one at home in case I lose power during a storm so that I can charge my phone, laptop and kindle.

Oakwine

I got an uninterruptable power supply with battery backup, which protects my computers. In a power outage, I could charge my phone many many times with it. It weighs many pounds.

saimin

Why not get those KMASHI 10,000 mAH power packs on Amazon that frequently go on sale for under $10? Average customer review on Amazon is 4.2 stars with 7000 reviews. The recommended Jackery power pack has only 6000mAH and costs more than twice as much.

Can anything simultaneously be charging via solar panel and discharging at a constant power into another device?

Would be super useful while camping to let the sun trickle charge the battery at whatever pace but to discharge into a device needing power as fast as possible.

Tim

Monoprice 16241 cannot

Kisuk3

Your kidding right?

Richard Russell

The Nomad Powerpack will do that. Very useful feature if you have a solar panel on your backpack. Most USB batteries turn the output off during charging.

RecalcitrantOne

Yes, but it’s typically not worth it. Read the guide for Solar Chargers. Those with the capability are typically expensive, slow, and don’t hold a lot of charge. Get a large enough battery pack and you are probably good. Or, use your solar charger to charge the battery pack.

Samer Faour

I just got a Jackery bolt and it was defective after just over a month of usage. No longer charges or discharges. Waiting to see what will happen with the return or replacement process.

I hated the Jackery Bolt, I found built in cables to be useless in that they don’t allow you to stack your phone and battery pack parallel. If you receive a call while charging you have to hold the phone and pack in this weird perpendicular plus sign arrangement or use a separate cable but now it defeats the purpose of the built in cable. I gave it away and bought an Anker.

Kisuk3

Is there anything that you can recommend that supports fast charging as well as has a built in cable. Thanks!

I have a couple of Asus Zenpower 10050 batteries. They are solidly constructed with an aluminum shell, and comparatively light for the capacity.

olee22

This RavPower powerbank is fairly large capacity, can charge almost any device. It can simultaneously handle input and output, ie being charged itself, and charging other devices. It had a very good review on this testing-enthusiast site lygte-info.dk.

I’m using it for several months, and it works super well. I can charge my Blackberry Priv about 3.7 times.

Note:
– With a power bank one can get about 60% of the rated mAh. Losses are only a small part of that, it is due to voltage difference between battery and
usb 5V.
– For regular and fast 5V USB charging a short and thick cable is recommended.

– For Quick Charge 2.0 and 3.0, the cable can be longer, as it can use higher than 5V, and there is less loss.

Norman Ramsey

The Jackery Bolt saved my vacation—trapped in Wyoming a day longer than expected. It is a little heavy, but not bulky. Anybody wavering between the Bolt and the smaller one probably should get the Bolt.

And—thanks, Wirecutter!!!

shmody

Any update on the smallest of the options? It seems that there’s plenty of similar products on Amazon.com to the “TravelCard” for less than half the cost… I LOVE my AmazonBasics 2000mAh battery w/integrated USB and *much* prefer it over pretty much any other portable solution. But it’s getting old and loosing charge now… 🙁

Mark, On your advice I bought the Jackery Bolt 6000 — a great purchase. I’d like to pick up another for a relative and am considering the Bolt 10050. Has your lab tested the 10050? If so, I’d love to know if it’s worth the extra $8 and 3 oz. Thanks so much for maintaining this invaluable resource.

chad jamian

Mark, do you (or anyone) have an opinion on the most heavy duty battery pack for storms like my family just went through? I am looking for something to just have in my parent’s florida home, completely omitting cuteness or portability. What is the best possible battery pack to charge as many things as possible on one charge? Could care less how it looks. Thank you!!

kewlking

can you post your ridiculously large spreadsheet with the 300+ batteries?

acidrain69

I wish they made a quality charger with a built-in AC plug so you could just hang it off a wall to charge it without requiring a micro-USB cable and another wall wart.

I think there’s an error (or at least a misleading statement) on your travelcard blurb. You say “…can give a smartphone like an iPhone 7 or Galaxy S8…” but the S8 is USB-C and travelcard doesn’t have a USB-C version.

Of course you can use an adapter but your main plug for it was that it was self contained.

Given that almost all recent Android phones use USB-C, it seems like it should lose some points for that.

agold

I just got the TravelCard in the mail, and it doesn’t work with the case I have on my iPhone! I have never had trouble with any other charger or headphones, so I’m really surprised. I’m so disappointed. It’s so nice and lightweight. I have the Jackery Bolt for travel, but it’s too heavy for me to carry every day.